Wales is in the corner with its thumb in its mouth! – Labour Uncut 23.5.13

The Estyn Report of 2012 concluded that 40% of Welsh children entering secondary education are going to schools that are barely “adequate.”

Carwyn Jones, admitted that indeed “more work needs to be done”. His education minister, Leighton Andrews, followed this up with an insistence that Wales was not going to follow the English with a new ‘O’ Level type exam that is more rigorous and demanding than the present GCSE.

Can’t have that now can we?

Mustn’t upset the Welsh medium schools with some heinous English deliverance must we? Never mind the fact that Welsh children will be burdened with a third class education, as if their future isn’t grim enough.

Standards? They can go hang. No, the problem is all about money, we are told. It’s all Barnett’s fault. Westminster just isn’t dishing out enough money to Wales, you see.

It’s alright for 10 Welsh poets to enjoy a 10 day little jolly at the Smithsonian in Washington, all expenses paid plus a £100 a day pocket money.

It’s alright to give £4.4m to Welsh publishers to publish 10 books on Welsh place names and DIY manuals on how to fry a Welshcake (I jest not).

It’s alright to give millions of tax-payers’ money to a tiny number of people to write the 100th learned tome on the fanciful Mabinogion, What the hell, there’s no such thing as an ebook in Wales? Stop the tax-payer gravy train? You must be joking!

You may like to know that in this age of austerity, the English arts council has already taken a 21.9% cut with more to come. Some English councils have cut arts funding altogether. What has Wales done? The arts council of Wales has been cut by 2.9%.

“Come on Westminster, Wales needs more money,” is the cry from our devolved government.

The idea of looking at what’s happening across the UK, with moves to raise standards and make exams worth something again, isn’t even on the agenda.

To hell with the future, to hell with Welsh youth, to hell with the fact that entries to Welsh universities are at an all- time low. Who cares that billions of European largesse has gone AWOL, without any kind of scrutiny and accountability?

That’s the sad tale of the Welsh education system: ignoring moves to raise standards and blaming all ills on London while the Welsh administration fritters away valuable public funds on flights of devolved fancy. A true Welsh tragedy.

I remember Welsh politicians saying the North-East should have it’s own Assembly. The clever Geordies knowing it would be a waste of money said “no thanks!”

“Other countries and regions have made a success of European regeneration funding. Areas such as the north-west of England, south Yorkshire and northern Spain have used their European money to lift their populations out of poverty and have seen a big improvement in their financial positions. Wales has gone backwards and the last four years has shown that the Labour-Plaid government isn’t fit to get Wales out of this economic mess. They have clearly wasted this opportunity to get Wales’ economy on the right track and boost regeneration right across the country.”

The Urdd should never have been allowed to piggy-back on our Education system.
it has been allowed to flourish like a creeper on a tree.
When my children were in school they were expected, even coerced in to joining. For the Urdd to boast of it’s membership when this is what happens is a bit rich !
It should be a “stand alone” organisation…Then we would have a true picture of it’s support.. And the wag should stop handing our money over like smarties !

It seems children are herded to Glanllyn just to swell the coffers, they money comes from the education budget.

money being chipped away all the time for the elite…….”She admitted that the Urdd’s original aim of “ensuring an opportunity, through the medium of Welsh, for all young people in Wales” was “increasingly challenging”

Everybody says “it’s only a few bob”……”misery guts”…….with the next handout from the EU the Assembly should buy a calculotor and add up all the “few bobs”!

” I will be honest; I’m as English as they come but have lived in Wales for some time. I’m happy with devolution; intellectually and economically it is what’s best for all parties. That said, and please do not take this personally, if you are a British Nationalist and not in favour of devolution, it would be best for you to just keep quiet. Your rants and raves make the cause you endorse appear foolish – and that is putting it mildly.”

Dear Mr Appleby

Devolution was set up so demoracy could be localised. Devolution was set up so accountability ( After the 1997 general election, the new LABOUR GOVERNMENT argued that an Assembly would be more democratically accountable than the Welsh Office) could be localised. Devolution was set up so people could have their voices heard. Devolution was set up so people could have their opinions aired. Devolution was set up so all political thinking could be aired.

Devolution gave Wales it’s Assembly.

Devolution gave no Assembly to England.

If the English had an Assembly would they be saying?:

“We have had enough of Wales let’s bring in middle English as a second language to stop Welsh people getting a job in our public services.

“Why bother lets get rid of the Welsh, they are costing us too much, lets have independance now!”

Mr Appleby, the BNP are minority party and in my opinion have Fascist views, they should be listened to and then completely ignored. I consider myself British and call myself British and did tick the British” box” in the last census form.

Whether you like it or we all live on the island off continental Europe called Great Britain, Prima Britannia Prydain fawr, Bhreatain Mhór,Wielka Brytania, برطانیہ, in which ever language you prefer to use.

I am a British nationalist from the pricipality of Wales and support, democratic accountable non-rasicist devolution.

Mr Appleby would it be best for all British people to just keep quiet and not air their voices and opinions.

The Labour Party was in favour of devolution to attract votes – the result of their actions are still open for debate.

If I was a Welsh nationalist I might suggest to you that you would be better off going back to England and lobby for an English Assembly as you seem to be intellectually and economically happy with devolution.

it seems its now not only Welsh medium arts that enjoy their own exclusive funding stream!

I opened the above link with the hope that this would be all about technology AND manufacturing…. i.e. some welsh speaking factory creating parts for aircraft or something like that. How wonderful that would have been! but no, it turns out this £750k is for creating yet Welsh language phone apps that nobody uses! The entire payment structure for apps created by Apple and google etc is already perfect! Those who develop apps that are downloaded most, make the most money! simple Provided additional funding streams for app developers (other than based on downloads) is false and is simply flogging a dead horse!

PS By the way Comeoffit, what about the Welsh Health Service £27,000 for a Welsh language app? Less than 1000 thousand people used it! Oh and I write my ‘Letters’ a few at a time, so I’m not sure exactly when this Letter will appear.

well the thing is, some young children cant yet speak English as well as Welsh… and that’s fine in somewhere Gwynedd because chances are either the swimming instructor or someone else in the Leisure centre speak Welsh.

However, you cant move somewhere like Rhyl or Newport and demand (and demand they do) Welsh medium swimming lessons. It is entirely selfish to attempt to stretch council budgets and put the jobs of non Welsh speaking local people at risk in this way. If you live in a place like Rhyl or Newport and you allow your children to get into a situation (at any age) where they are not competent in speaking English (but are in Welsh) then more fool you!

What a nasty bunch of bigots you are.
Truly pathetic, this is where you all hide out now that the Yes vote for devolution shafted you, your anti-Welsh racism, and your little Englandism.
You come to the Julian Ruck site, where a liar, a plagiarist, a fraud and a bully keeps his pet trolls.
How very sad.

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I am the author of four novels to date: Ragged Cliffs, Inheritance Lost and An Equal Judge make up the Treharne Saga, and my latest novel, The Bent Brief, tells the story of a lawyer who accidentally kills his wife when he finds her in bed with another woman.
My upcoming novels, The Silver Songsters and All Gas No Oil are to be published over the next 18 months.
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